1940s
This is a timeline of events that occurred during the 1940s. 1940 February 2nd *In Los Angeles, California, Howard Stark demonstrates the properties of Vibranium, a metal found by Stark Industries in Africa. After being attacked by HYDRA assassins, Stark joins the Strategic Scientific Reserve with Colonel Chester Phillips.Captain America: First Vengeance, Volume 3 November 11th *At Castle Kaufmann in the Bavarian Alps, Abraham Erskine injects Johann Schmidt with his Super Soldier Serum, but the serum horrifically transforms Schmidt, turning him into the Red Skull. 13th *Two days after administering the Super Soldier Serum to Johann Schmidt, Abraham Erskine is rescued by Peggy Carter infiltrated into the compound as a maid, and brought Erskine to the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) to produce America's Super Soldier with Howard Stark's help. 1941 May 25th *Steve Rogers attends a baseball game at in Brooklyn. June 5th *Sarah Rogers dies of . The news is soon heard by her son Steve Rogers.Captain America: The Winter Soldier 7th *Sarah Rogers's funeral takes place, and she is buried next to her husband, Joseph. *After Sarah's funeral, Steve Rogers heads home and is found by Bucky Barnes, who offers to let Steve live with him, but Steve refuses and says he can get by on his own. Bucky tells Steve that he doesn't have to get by on his own, and that he'll be with him "till the end of the line". December 7th *America enters World War II. In Times Square, Manhattan, during an art class Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes learn of America joining the war, and over the next two weeks Bucky trains Rogers at Goldie’s Boxing Gym. 9th *Stark Industries begin producing planes for the war effort following the . 11th *Howard Stark's innovations earn him a spot working on the Manhattan Project. 24th *Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes visit US Recruiting and Induction Center in New York City, but Rogers is classified as 4F and rejected from service. He goes on to be rejected a further four times in four different cities. 25th *The Strategic Scientific Reserve team in Brooklyn, New York City, finish the Project Rebirth Chamber. Howard Stark comments that it should be called the Brooklyn Project in response to 's work at Los Alamos. 26th *At Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, Abraham Erskine rejects the candidates selected by Chester Phillips for Project Rebirth. 1942 March 3rd *In Tønsberg, Norway, Johann Schmidt discovers and takes the Tesseract, hidden within a monastery. He refers to it as "the jewel of Odin's Treasure Room".Captain America: The First Avenger Unknown Date *HYDRA General Werner Reinhardt is sent to search for other mysterious artifacts.Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 2.01: Shadows Reinhardt's team is able to discover the corpse of a blue-skinned extraterrestrial in the deserts of North Africa.The insignia of the German Afrika Korps on the boxes carried by HYDRA soldiers in Shadows implies the corpse was found somewhere in North Africa before the surrender of the Army Group Africa on 13 May 1943. 1943 June 14th *On , at the World Exposition of Tomorrow in Queens, New York, Abraham Erskine spots Steve Rogers at a recruitment office and offers him a chance to join the United States Army through Project Rebirth. 15th *At Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, Rogers and several other volunteers begin their training under the supervision of Erskine, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Chester Phillips. 22nd *'Assassination of Abraham Erskine': With Erskine's serum and Howard Stark's Vita-Rays technology, Steve Rogers is transformed into the world's first super soldier. Erskine is assassinated by Heinz Kruger, an operative of HYDRA. The only evidence that Project Rebirth took place is in Rogers' genetic code. Kruger runs away but is caught by Rogers and commits suicide with a cyanide pill. 23rd *Unwilling to be kept for research, Steve Rogers joins the USO and goes on a morale-boosting tour of the US, the UK, and troops stationed in Italy. Given the name 'Captain America' he becomes a national celebrity, appearing in films, comic books and card collections and establishing himself as a symbol of America's participation in the war. October *During the Battle of Azzano, the 107th Infantry Regiment suffers heavy casualties fighting against the Germany Army and HYDRA. HYDRA openly fires at German troops, breaking ties with Nazi Germany. *At the HYDRA Weapons Facility in the Austrian Alps, the Howling Commandos meet for the first time. As prisoners they are used to make weapons for HYDRA. They team up, at first, to get revenge on one of their captors after he viciously beats Bucky Barnes. November 3rd *'Liberation of Allied Prisoners of War': Frustrated by his lack of real action, and learning that Bucky Barnes is trapped behind enemy lines, Steve Rogers attacks a HYDRA facility in Austria and releases Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, Jacques Dernier, Bucky, and the rest of the 107th. Johann Schmidt sets the facility to self destruct and escapes with the Tesseract. During his escape Steve memorizes a map of HYDRA facility locations and obtained a sample of the power source HYDRA was using. 4th *Steve Rogers is presumed dead, but soon arrives with most of the soldiers he saved from the HYDRA facility. *Rogers brings together some of the men he saved in the HYDRA base and creates the Howling Commandos. 5th *Howard Stark examines a sample of HYDRA's power, which will help him with the theory of a new element. December *Captain America and his Howling Commandos invade and destroy a HYDRA facility in France.Captain America: The First Avenger Adaptation, Volume 2 1944 January *Captain America and his Howling Commandos invade and destroy a HYDRA facility in Belgium. February *Captain America and his Howling Commandos invade and destroy a HYDRA facility in Czechoslovakia. March 29th *Captain America tries to get a file from HYDRA agents in London, who run away and attempt to hide in an air raid shelter. The Captain encourages the citizens inside the shelter to attack the agents by giving them a speech of heroism and strength in numbers.The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative April 27th *Captain America invades a castle in the Nazi occupied Danish Straits controlled by HYDRA. He fights a Nazi wearing an arc reactor powered battle suit, and an arc powered tank. Johann Schmidt attempts to destroy him by using a Viking Runestone, but the Captain slows the relic from exploding, allowing the Howling Commandos to escape. May 11th *Captain America boards and captures the HYDRA submarine Leviathan.Captain America & Thor: Avengers! 1945 *The Howling Commandos board a HYDRA train and capture Arnim Zola. In the ensuing battle with HYDRA agents, Bucky Barnes falls from the edge of a cliff and is presumed dead. *Werner Reinhardt captures a group of villagers from China who have found the mysterious Obelisk. Based on stories and fables from the villagers, Reinhardt comes to learn of the Kree's visit to Earth millennia ago, but misinterprets their visit as an attempt to conquer the planet.Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 2.08: The Things We Bury When he shows the Obelisk to Schmidt, he says that the Obelisk may hold the answer to death itself.Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 2.01: Shadows March 4th *'Attack on HYDRA Headquarters': Captain America attacks HYDRA Headquarters alone on his motorcycle which he uses to blow up the doors to the base. After a quick fight, he is surrounded and captured by HYDRA forces. He is taken before Red Skull but before he is killed the Howling Commandos zip-line through the window and Colonel Chester Phillips attacks the main gate. Red Skull retreats to the hanger and Rogers follows. *'Battle in the Valkyrie': As the Red Skull escapes in the Valkyrie, the Captain America gains access to the plane and a fight ensues. Red Skull handles the Tesseract, which activates and sends him through a portal. The Captain crashes the Valkyrie off the coast of Greenland so its bombs never reach the USA. 5th *Howard Stark discovers the Tesseract at the bottom of the ocean in his search for Steve Rogers, but fails to locate the crashed Valkyrie. Rogers will remain missing for almost 70 years. *The disappearance of Steve Rogers is publicly revealed.Rogers Disappears 6th *In a HYDRA Fortress in Austria, Werner Reinhardt tests the Obelisk's power on several of the Chinese villagers, one of which is a young woman who carries the genetic material of the Inhumans and thus displays an unnatural immunity to it's potent effects. Reinhardt learns about Schmidt's demise and the approach of the Allies. He decides to move the Obelisk to a more secure location. April 12th *Franklin D. Roosevelt dies. 30th *Adolf Hitler commits suicide. 7th *Werner Reinhardt attempts to evacuate the HYDRA Research Facility in Austria and escape with numerous mysterious artifacts that HYDRA collected over the years. His base is attacked by the SSR troops led by Peggy Carter, Dum Dum Dugan, and Jim Morita. Reinhardt and his men are arrested and all the artifacts are confiscated by the SSR. *Werner Reinhardt is taken to a secret Strategic Scientific Reserve facility and interrogated by Peggy Carter. He attempts to offer his services to the SSR, even relaying information regarding the Obelisk and the Kree, but is instead sentences to life imprisonment.Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 2.08: The Things We Bury 8th *The Allied nations celebrate the . The Howling Commandos reunite to commemorate the sacrifice of Captain America. 9th *German Field Marshall signs the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at Soviet headquarters in Berlin. 19th *The United States begin Operation Overcast, later renamed Operation Paperclip, an effort to recruit former Nazi scientists to work for the United States. Arnim Zola is among the recruited scientists. Zola and some HYDRA agents later track down Bucky Barnes and find him alive, missing an arm, where he fell from the train. Zola and the agents take him into their custody. 23rd *Heinrich Himmler commits suicide. June 25th *Gary Hendricks buys a newly printed comic about the war hero Captain America, avidly reading it.Captain America: Evil Lurks Everywhere September 2nd *Japan surrenders to the Allied forces, and World War II ends. 1946 March 14th *Tired of being under appreciated by her misogynistic superior John Flynn, who gives her nothing more than paperwork to do because she is a woman, Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve single-handedly retrieves a vial of formula marked with the Zodiac emblem.Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter 15th *John Flynn reprimands Carter for not going through proper procedures in the Zodiac mission. Howard Stark contacts Flynn, telling him Peggy Carter is going to co-manage the newly created S.H.I.E.L.D. with him. After the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. *Arnim Zola begins rebuilding HYDRA from within S.H.I.E.L.D.. Bucky Barnes's memory is wiped and he is given a metal prosthetic arm. He is kept cryogenically frozen and becomes a HYDRA weapon known as the Winter Soldier. 1949 December 4th *Obadiah Stane is born. References Category:Timeline